Hey guys, I hope you're still there, sorry for the really late chapter, I can't really promise you a steady update but I have so many plan for this story so I can at least guarantee you updates.

Enjoy

The sound of the ocean, the fine sandy beach lining the gin colored water and the collection of palm trees dotting the beach, swaying in the breeze. It was beautiful. He just wanted to take a deep breath, lying on the soft soothing sand while having a cold one and have no single care in the world. That was his wish, having been woken up by a bright warm light just a moment ago. The same moment where Leo found out that he was in a bed, a fluffy, proper bed, and not those swinging, dank, rickety, hammocks he's been 'sleeping' on for these past couple of days. But, that was the least of his concern now. No. There was no cannon blasts around him, no smell of blood, no swishing of the swords and the sound of agony as it connected with a flesh. He just wanted to savor this moment, just in case he wake up, in the most unsavory way, anytime soon. Moments passed as he enjoyed the vista outside the window, still wondering, still hoping, begging to lord, not to let this one be a dream, and if it was, he prayed not to let him go back to that horrible existence. He truly wanted to believe that he's escaped from all the unthinkable hell that's been thrust upon him since he escaped that godforsaken prison, he needed this so bad, but this just couldn't be!

"You're awake," a sound, a soft feminine sound woke him up from his little torpor.

The sound belonged to a woman, no older than him, she was standing by the door, a tray of food in her hands. He also noticed that her hands were trembling, although slightly. She was beautiful, she fits right in on this dream, with that tropical look. The fair skin, long wavy brunette hair that flowed about her very smoothly, and the big chocolate eyes. Curves in the right place too, he reckoned.

"Ah…wh-where am I?" Leo asked as he propped himself up on the bed.

"D-DON'T move!" still with the slight tremble.

"It's okay, you don't need to be scared of me," Leo looked up with his best nice-guy face to reassure her.

"No, of course," she said nervously, "It's just that the wound…it just might open your wound," she put the tray down on a bedside table and took a bottle of pills from it. "Wound? What wound?!" The woman ignored him and took some pills from the bottle.

"Wait. What is it?"

"Painkillers,"

"I don't need that," Leo said, it came out like a child refusing to eat vegetables in front of his parents. But truly, being a logia, he's several 'privileges' that even other types of fruit users don't have. That includes instant-healing. But no, he doesn't want her to find out about that just yet. He doesn't even know her name, she could be a jailer looking to sedate him and bring him back to Impel Down, or she could just be something out of his imagination, something that his mind has been most eager to make up, every time he felt he could no longer bear the state of celibacy forced upon him in his confinement.

"It's your dehydrated brain talking again," she said as she poured some water into a cup.

"Umm…yeah…it must be," he took the pill and the cup, deciding to play the act.

"So…" Leo started, putting down the cup, "you haven't answered my question, where am I, and who are you? Is this a dream?"

After a long pause, she sighed, "you don't remember anything at all do you?"

"All I remembered was…wait…" it came back to him now, he was so preoccupied with his 'dream thoughts' he forgot what had gotten him into this 'dream' in the first place. "The ship…it capsized, and then, after that, I don't know, I can't swim so this must be heaven and you…you must be the angel."

She smiled, "flattering," then she pulled out a thermometer and gestured him to open his mouth and, without due regard, shoved it down his mouth.

"Unfortunately for you, no, you're still in the world of the living, this is the summer island of Siracusa, and as for your condition, I found you last night washed up on the shore, lifeless, with a piece of wood jutting out from your stomach. Seeing that you had a massive bleeding, and that it needed me countless stitches just to close the wound. I'd say you're doing pretty good. I thought it'd have taken you at least days to wake up. We still have to worry about infections though."

"I guess I was lucky huh? That the waves brought me ashore?" he said, it came out a little weird with the thing still in his mouth.

"Quite lucky indeed, considering that your little pirate ship sunk on the opposite side of the island. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought you swam all the way around the island. But of course, nobody can swim with a wood sticking out of his belly like that…right?"

"You're saying someone brought me here?" It must be Hayato, but where the hell is that guy?

She just sat there, perhaps expecting him to know anything. That he was that much of a man-eating beast, to have survived swimming all the way here with wood impaled in his guts. And in a way, he guessed, he was sort of a beast, but better not to spook the young woman.

"I don't know, I don't remember any of it."

Leo caught some distant look in her eyes, but she quickly covered it up, "If you're wondering where your pirate friends are, don't worry, they're staying in the town." He somehow doubted, 'staying in the town,' to be the most accurate description to be applied to a boatload of barbaric pirates.

"Well. You've lost a lot of blood tonight, I should leave you to rest," she said as she stood up and left.

"Hey wait,"

"What's your name? My name's Leo,"

"The name is Isabel," she said, only turning her head, she then closed the door.

Later that day, she came to his room and told him she was going to the town to buy some meds, he then decided it was then the best time to sneak out, and find Hayato. Sometimes, he felt that his life has become more of a puzzle, with every time he opened his eyes, he always find himself shrugging his confused head. If he didn't solve these screwed up puzzles soon, he thought, he was going to get crazy.

He put on a pair of slippers by the bed, and climbed out the window. After sniffing in the air, taking the fresh tropical air in, he walked around the house, an elegant, two storied, tropical styled house (Italian) and silently walked down the path to what he assumed to be the way to the town. The house itself was a bit secluded, resting on top of a hill, surrounded by low-lying trees. There was a small orchard of olives in front of the house, a house made of glass next to it. He didn't bother to check it out. It didn't take him long to notice the small town, as the hill gave him a perfect vantage point for spectacular view of the entire island, even down to the curves and twists of the coastline.

After a long walk, he could finally see the first civilization, the first after he broke out of prison, or after a closer inspection, what's left of it. There was no sign that anybody lived there. The cobblestone streets lay deserted and the town was eerily quiet. He took in the surrounding, the houses were similar to Isabel's. The warm color and the tropical style. Most were also two-storied. As he walked deeper into the town he reached the town's plaza where there were several stores flanking it. Still, there was no people in sight. If it wasn't for this fact, he might have enjoyed the town a little bit. With the classical fountain in the center of the square and the classical façade (Roman) of the buildings around it, it kind of reminded him of the mini-version of Old City Thule back home, during summer that is, other seasons it just looked gloomy and dark.

He couldn't be walking farther than two steps into the store when he heard a sound that was all too familiar to him. Not in any mood to cause any a riot, he did what normal people would have done. He raised his hands up. Despite of this, he was a bit relieved to know that this town wasn't completely deserted like he'd originally thought earlier. This town might not even be deserted at all! Leo thought, after remembering reading somewhere that people in the tropics have this thing called 'siesta' where they take nap for hours. Yes, this might just be as silly as that! Leo thought.

"I'm sorry for disturbing your nap sir," Leo muttered to whoever it was pointing a gun at him.

"Are you one of them?"

"One of what?"

"Don't play around with me! Are you one of those pirates?!" Leo quickly realized what had happened in this town. Indeed, the pirates were 'staying' in the town.

"I'm just a tourist! I think I slept through the night and just woke up this afternoon, with all my things stolen and the whole room looted, what the hell happened around here?! This certainly isn't in my itinerary!"

"You're lying,"

"Have you ever seen a pirate with pajamas before?!" Leo argued, looking around looking for the man with the gun.

He heard several whispers and he saw him. He was hiding behind a dresser, he looked terrified. What he assumed as his wife was behind him, holding his husband's hand. "Fine. I believe you. We don't have much choice anyway."

"Good," Leo said he lowered his hands, "now won't you tell me what happened around here?"

After both men have settled down, the man began telling his story. How the pirates, without any warning, in the dark of night, raided and overwhelmed the town. How they took the mayor as a hostage so as to ensure the townsfolk silence. Besides banning anybody from walking out of their homes, they've also confiscated all den den mushi, making the town completely under their control.

"Where are the pirates now?"

"They're in the basilica, with the mayor, many pirates are guarding the place, you better go back to your home,"

"Yeah, I should, but first, do you have clothes my size?"

The basilica wasn't hard to find. It was right on the edge of the town's main avenue. The large bricked dome being the most prominent feature. He had no trouble getting inside as the pirates greeted him and even cheered for they thought he was surely gone. Unbeknownst to them was, how infuriated he was at this barbaric, cowardly act of his 'comrades', and he let that be acknowledged by bashing the huge door open, nearly throwing them off their hinges. "CAN I SPEAK TO THE CAPTAIN PLEASE?" he blared. Everybody inside the hall was silent, nobody dared to make a peep knowing full well what that would cause to their wellbeing. Minutes, and still, nobody. "CAPTAIN!"

A seemingly generic pirate guy in the background suddenly stepped up. He made an act of looking around as the rest of the pirates gulped. "You can talk to me,"

The guy in question, was lean and short, has a yellow-blonde hair which shape resembled a starfish, and for a supposedly ordinary guy, he looked extremely confident, with no hint of fear whatsoever. The guy looked at him straight in the eyes. "You must be the acid man everyone's been talking about, if you're planning to cause some riot here then you're out of luck,"

"I just want to speak to the Captain,"

"Okay, that would be a problem, the Captain is dead, and you barging in here like this, in the middle of his memorial service, you're lucky to be alive."

"Wait, he drowned too?" asked Leo, getting even more confused. The starfish guy bunched up his eyebrows as he turned his head to his fellow pirates asking them what this guy was talking about.

"Oh, him, unfortunately, yes, he drowned with the ship. We're praying for him too."

"So, you're his replacement?"

"Not quite, here, why don't we shake hands and do a proper introduction." The guy playfully said as he offered his hand for a shake.

Leo looked at the man warily as he extended his hand, just in case this guy was trying to pull a dastardly trick on him, "Leo, just Leo,"

"Marco, I'm the Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates,"

He paused and was a bit amused that for a supposed brute, he didn't recognize the name.

"Nice to meet you, just Leo, now take a seat, we're going to continue,"

"W-wait! Hey!" but the guy, Marco, already disappeared among the dispersing crowd, and before Leo knew it, he was the last guy standing in the solemn hall.

"You're still here," Marco said, approaching him. There again, the cool, I-don't-care-a-single-thing face, despite of tearing up a bit, earlier.

"That was a good speech, and I'm really sorry for your loss, he seemed like a good guy, but you and your men need to get out of this island, right now, this isn't their war, they don't need to suffer like this,"

He chuckled, "to where? Where do you suggest we go?"

"I don't care where you go, go back to your island!"

"As much as we want that, we can't, Leo, all three Admirals are guarding the Sabaody waters really tight, there's no way, no way, we can cross to New World with this kind of heat,"

Leo was silent, "you see Leo, we have no choice, we either lay low or be sunk in the middle of the ocean, which one would you rather have!?"

"I'd rather not involve innocent civilians in this!"

"God, did you even listen to what I said earlier? Look, whatever you think of us, we're not some kind of lowlife, barbarian savages, we guarantee that nobody in the town gets harmed, that's my word, and you can tell this to whoever it is that told you these stories about us,"

Leo nodded, "and they can get out of their home."

"Do you really want to jeopardize our chance of freedom by taking their side? This is not over yet Leo, they're still out there, regaining their strength. They know we're barely surviving right now, all it takes is one guy talking to bring the posse here and blow us all to oblivion!"

"What do you mean 'our'!? I'm free! I can take a boat now and go anywhere I like, you can go on playing the big boss in this small island and blow up all the Marines you like, but I'm out of here! You're not dragging me down into your own mess."

"My own mess," he muttered. Marco pulled out a scroll of paper and searched through it one by one. "Leo…Leo…where is it…ah…here it is, recognize the face…sorry, faces?"

"What the hell is it?"

He dropped the papers, which turned out to be wanted posters, on the floor. "This came just this morning, they're spreading this all over the world. THIS is your OWN mess."

"'Two-Faced' Rendish, 90 million belis," above his name was a picture of him, during that fateful night where he was caught. He didn't even remember being photographed that night, it was his face, he only knew that much. He was laughing directly at the camera maniacally, what seemed to be a second face surreally poking out from his left side of the face, the 'faces' overlapped each other. He also noticed that he was wearing the tie that the doctor had picked out for him in it. He looked just like a proper super-villain in it. It reminded him of a character in one of his comics. This wasn't good for his freedom, not good at all, and he thanked Magellan for this. And not far from his poster, was none other than his forgotten friend, Hayato Munakata, or in this, he was named as 'Hayato, the 24th Ronin,' he didn't know what any of those mean, but it could be something worse than being called 'Two-Faced' because it landed him a whooping bounty of 150 million belis.

"I'm sorry to be the one to break this to you, but Leo, we both are not that different. The question is, do you want to fight alone or be our nakamas, so that we can fight them together."

"No, I'm not like you pirates!"

"Stop acting like you're innocent, because when you have that much price on your head, you're either a sadistic maniac or a very damn good liar, either way, you're still not a saint!"

"You don't understand, I was framed alright!"

He chuckled, "hahaha let me tell you something, everybody in Impel Down sing the same song. You killed, no, you DESTROYED, 61 people, 4 of them were Kings, 3 Queens, 27 other royalties, 2 World Nobles, one of them was your girlfriend, looks to me you're worse than a red-nosed clown! He, at least treats his girl right!"

"Don't mention her! Don't you EVER DARE to mention her with your filthy mouth!"

Marco took a step back, it wasn't because of the pointless empty threat, no, he was used to that, but the fact that the words didn't come out of Leo's mouth. "WHAT THE HELL!? THAT WASN'T ME!" A face, protruded from the side of Leo's face, "long time no see brother," Leo glanced to his side as if it would enable him to see the other 'face' of his. "You take me over like this, we both are gonna die! You KNOW it."

The other face snickered, "not if you want it too, we don't,"

"W-what are you talking about?"

"You said you loved her, but YOU NEVER HAD THE GUTS TO PROTECT HER!" as he said that, the faces merged and became one again, but Marco knew it was the 'other' Leo. He just looked at the astonishing transformation before him where the power of the Acid Acid no Mi was in full view of the whole spectator. Luckily the ceiling was high enough to contain the growing bulk of the monster.

"GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!" Marco ordered his subordinates.

"What about you!?"

"I promised him I'd protect this village, so I have to keep my word,"

"Then we shall stay here,"

"NO, there's enough deaths already,"

"Exactly,"

Marco looked at his subordinate, those words, they reminded him of someone, he said the same thing when Thatch had been murdered, a mischievous stubborn guy who he wished was still here with him, just like the old days. His thoughts were quickly put aside as he dodged a gigantic 'acid punch.' It didn't escape his attention that the punch has created an acidic crater that penetrated the floor and bored through the foundation of the building. "This ridiculous guy is basically a rookie version of Akainu," Marco muttered.

He has fought enough logia users to know their weaknesses. Haki. The fact that this thing was giant-sized only made it easier.

Marco transformed into his phoenix form and flew towards the monstrous figure. Monster-Leo, not knowing anything about his foe's power was blinded by the bright flame and could not have anticipated Marco's power as Marco delivered a spinning kick to his head, midair.

Without giving his enemy to recover, he moved around the hall in order to distract the monster. When Monster-Leo launched a punch, Marco was ready and used the opportunity to launch himself at his foe's unprotected right. He was successful at landing another powerful blow to the foe's head. "Fools and logia, they don't go well. Your intimidation, unfortunately, only works on the weakest of minds."

The monster roared then turned his back on him as he resorted to another method. Destructing the building and bury all of them in its ruins. Marco knew this and this time he made sure that this would be the last blow. He targeted the back of his foe's head, he swung his leg, but…it missed as Monster-Leo ducked. "WHO'S THE FOOL NOW?" He attempted to grab Marco and he did. Only, he forgot that he was liquid and could only watch as his foe slipped from his hands easily. Thanks to his strong haki, the monster's acid didn't affect him. The monster was so bewildered he didn't realize Marco hovering behind him.

"YOU ARE, BITCH!" Marco shouted from behind him. Monster-Leo looked back and was only fast enough to look at the incoming kick that sent him into the air. It was followed by the 'oohs and aahs' of his comrades. "Let's hope the sea's that way."

Not far from the carnage, in the tranquility of the beach, Hayato was praying in front of a little shrine dedicated to his dear departed friend, Leo of North Blue. He's spent hours looking for him in the depth and darkness of sea, within the first one hour, he was hoping that his friend was still alive, when two hours have passed, he just hoped to find the body so that he could give him a proper funeral so as to make sure his spirit wouldn't come back and haunt the seas as funayurei (water deity), but he knew it was already far too late now, this was the best he could do for him, may the water spirit have mercy on his soul. A dark cloud loomed over him, only just for a second, as it hovered, or rather, flew over him. He looked back and was just in time to see the thing splashed down into the sea. It was followed by a bright blue flame which landed on the beach, nearby, and sprayed him with sands. After hurriedly wiping the sands from his face, Hayato could see that it was a bird. A magical flaming bird!

"L-Leo, is that you? Are you coming down from the heaven to bid me farewell?" Hayato couldn't believe his eyes, a creature like this was certainly sent by God Himself. He was even more shocked when the bird transformed into a human-form. A human with a starfish on his head. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I have a good news and a bad news," Hayato still couldn't overcome his shock just stood there, mouth gaping.

"Good news is, the thing that just dropped into the sea, he's your friend, bad news is, he's not in heaven yet."

Silence.

"What are you waiting for? A freaking written order?! GO GO GO!"

Marco's speech in the funeral ceremony is skipped here, but you can find it in my page, titled as 'Rememberance'